BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Receives $37.30 Average PT from Analysts

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the nine research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.30.

BJRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants in a research report on Friday, February 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ's Restaurants

In other news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total value of $295,022.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,222 shares of the company's stock, valued at $467,491.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $8,598,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,659,692.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total transaction of $295,022.25. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,222 shares of the company's stock, valued at $467,491.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AdvisorShares Investments LLC increased its position in BJ's Restaurants by 2.1% during the third quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 18,007 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in BJ's Restaurants by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,085 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its position in BJ's Restaurants by 5.7% during the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 7,640 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in BJ's Restaurants by 8.2% during the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,024 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $192,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,877 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BJRI traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $34.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 201,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 384,703. The firm has a market capitalization of $806.83 million, a PE ratio of 41.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 2.12. BJ's Restaurants has a twelve month low of $21.64 and a twelve month high of $38.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.42 and a 200 day moving average of $31.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $323.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.03 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.47% and a return on equity of 5.45%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About BJ's Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. Its restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.